Reviews
"McMahan is one of America's finest contemporary moral theorists...[His]long-awaited book combines a close attention to real-life moral issues with asolid insight into foundational matters of metaphysics and ethical theory. It isalways well-argued, sophisticated and very interesting. The Ethics of Killing isan excellent book and deserves close study. I recommend it to anyone who, forprofessional or existential reasons, is interested in the topics it tackles. Andwho is not for the latter reasons?" --Nordic Journal of Philosophy, "McMahan's book is outstanding within the present literature in virtue ofits breadth, succinctness, and argumentative erudition. The two dominantqualities of the book are, first, an extraordinary care for argumentativefairness and balance, and second, a new interest in bringing applied ethics intohelpful contact with its so far neglected philosophical foundations."--DeutscheZeitschrift fur Philosophie, "With a careful application of metaphysics to ethics, McMahan hasdeveloped a field of argument that has been insufficiently explored, and in sodoing, created a whole new structure for the debates surrounding abortion andeuthanasia. This makes this a novel and, at times, exciting book."--Notre DamePhilosophical Reviews, "McMahan formulates a ground-breaking general theory of the ethics of killing and letting die. The Ethics of Killing is a long book, jammed with interesting and provocative arguments. [It is] an exceptionally argumentatively rich book, the essential starting point for all future discussions ofthe killing of individuals at the margins of life."--Nicholas Agar, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, "McMahan's critical discussion of [Judith Jarvis Thomson's argument for abortion] is the best I have seen. The Ethics of Killing puts th[e] technique [of deploying thought-experiments] to more systematic and imaginative use than any other book I know of."--Stephen Mulhall, London Review ofBooks, "McMahan's book is outstanding within the present literature in virtue of its breadth, succinctness, and argumentative erudition...The two dominant qualities of the book are, first, an extraordinary care for argumentative fairness and balance, and second, a new interest in bringing appliedethics into helpful contact with its so far neglected philosophical foundations."--Anton Leist, Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Philosophie, McMahan is one of America's finest contemporary moral theorists ... The book is well-argued, sophisticated and very interesting., Outstanding...[McMahan's] book is an enormously rich contribution to personal identity theory, ethical theory, and applied ethics. [Each of the five hefty chapters] could be a short book of scholarly significance. Chapter 2 presents the most probing investigation of the harm of death of whichI am aware.--David DeGrazia, Philosophy and Public Affairs|9780195169829|, "In this exceptional new book, Jeff McMahan offers nuanced and illuminating accounts of personal identity, human nature, the badness of death, the wrongness of killing, the rights of animals, abortion, and euthanasia. This book is a major contribution to both moral theory and applied ethics, and makes a strong case for the relevance of the former to the latter. It is also beautifully written and a joy to read. This is a long, dense book, overflowing with examples, arguments, and counterarguments. [It] is a tour de force of contemporary naturalistic ethics. Defenders of the naturalistic project will cite it as the best evidence yet that the project is on the right track, yielding insights into a wide range of pressing topical issues... No-one on either side can afford to ignore this book." --Tim Mulgan, Canadian Journal of Philosophy "Jeff McMahan is one of America's leading contemporary moral philosophers and perhaps one of its most courageous. McMahan's long awaited and widely acclaimed book, The Ethics of Killing, advances a groundbreaking theory of the morality of killing and letting die. ... [Its] arguments are numerous, subtle, and detailed...one of the most comprehensive, rigorous, and illuminating discussions of the morality of ending marginal lives, brimming with thought-provoking observations and arguments that will shape the course of future debate."--Caroline West, The Drawing Board: An Australian Review of Public Affairs "Masterful...admirably thorough and sensitive...The thoroughness and comprehensiveness with which [McMahan] has worked out [his] ideas is deeply impressive. The presentation is throughout so lucid that non-specialists should be able to profit greatly from the book...There could be no better proof of the paradoxical vitality of the subject of death and killing than this monumental book."-- Ingmar Persson, The Times Literary Supplement "The Ethics of Killing is detailed, careful, comprehensive, and innovative...[It] is an example of philosophy at the highest level. It is a genuine pleasure to have the opportunity to read such a probing, careful, analytical, honest, and utterly wonderful book. I recommend it highly. It would not be unreasonable to make it required reading for any graduate student (or anyone else) who needs to understand the nature of first-class philosophical thought."--Don Marquis, Ethics "McMahan formulates a ground-breaking general theory of the ethics of killing and letting die. The Ethics of Killing is a long book, jammed with interesting and provocative arguments. [It is] an exceptionally argumentatively rich book, the essential starting point for all future discussions of the killing of individuals at the margins of life."--Nicholas Agar, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy "McMahan is one of America's finest contemporary moral theorists...[His] long-awaited book...combines a close attention to real-life moral issues with a solid insight into foundational matters of metaphysics and ethical theory. ..It is always well-argued, sophisticated and very interesting...The Ethics of Killing...is an excellent book and deserves close study."--Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Sats: Nordic Journal of Philosophy "With a careful application of metaphysics to ethics, McMahan has developed a field of argument that has been insufficiently explored, and in so doing, created a whole new structure for the debates surrounding abortion and euthanasia. This makes this a novel and, at times, exciting book."--Michael Lacewing, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "McMahan's book is outstanding within the present literature in virtue of its breadth, succinctness, and argumentative erudition...The two dominant qualities of the book are, first, an extraordinary care for argumentative fairness and balance, and second, a new interest in bringing applied ethics into helpful contact with its so far neglected philosophical foundations."--Anton Leist, Deutsche Zeit, [McMahan's] language is clear and the arguments well presented ... recommended reading for anyone who wants to be informed about the arguments surrounding issues at the margins of life, whether they ultimately agree or disagree with what he has to say., "The Ethics of Killing is applied ethics at its best. From now on, anyonewho is serious about getting to the bottom of issues like abortion, infanticide,brain death, euthanasia and the killing of nonhuman animals will have to takeaccount of the novel and ingenious theory presented in Jeff McMahan'slucidly-written, rigorously-argued book."--Peter Singer, PrincetonUniversity, "McMahan formulates a ground-breaking general theory of the ethics ofkilling and letting die. The Ethics of Killing is a long book, jammed withinteresting and provocative arguments. [It is] an exceptionally argumentativelyrich book, the essential starting point for all future discussions of thekilling of individuals at the margins of life."--Nicholas Agar, The AustralasianJournal of Philosophy, "The thoroughness and comprehensiveness with which [McMahan] has workedout [his] ideas is deeply impressive. The presentation is throughout so lucidthat non-specialists should be able to profit greatly from the book. There couldbe no better proof of the paradoxical vitality of the subject of death andkilling than this monumental book." --The Times Literary Supplement, McMahan is one of America's finest contemporary moral theorists... always well-argued, sophisticated and very interesting... it is an excellent book and deserves close study. I recommend it to anyone who, for professional or existential reasons, is interested in the topics it tackles., "Jeff McMahan is one of America's leading contemporary moral philosophers and perhaps one of its most courageous. McMahan's long awaited and widely acclaimed book, The Ethics of Killing, advances a groundbreaking theory of the morality of killing and letting die. ... [Its] arguments arenumerous, subtle, and detailed...one of the most comprehensive, rigorous, and illuminating discussions of the morality of ending marginal lives, brimming with thought-provoking observations and arguments that will shape the course of future debate."--Caroline West, The Drawing Board: An AustralianReview of Public Affairs, The thoroughness and comprehensiveness with which he [McMahan] has worked out these ideas is deeply impressive. The presentation is throughout so lucid that non-specialists should be able to profit greatly from the book ... There could be no better proof of the vitality of the subject of death and killing than this monumental book., "[McMahan's] language is clear and the arguments well presented...recommended reading for anyone who wants to be informed about the arguments surrounding issues at the margins of life, whether they ultimately agree or disagree with what he has to say."--Bulletin of Medical Ethics, "With a careful application of metaphysics to ethics, McMahan has developed a field of argument that has been insufficiently explored, and in so doing, created a whole new structure for the debates surrounding abortion and euthanasia. This makes this a novel and, at times, excitingbook."--Michael Lacewing, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, "Publication of this book is a welcome event. McMahan's discussionsinvolve analyses of more alternative views than, I suspect, anyone other thanMcMahan has ever imagined. The Ethics of Killing is detailed, careful,comprehensive, and innovative. [It] is an example of philosophy at the highestlevel. It is a genuine pleasure to have the opportunity to read such a probing,careful, analytical, honest, and utterly wonderful book. I recommend it highly.It would not be unreasonable to make it required reading for any graduatestudent (or anyone else) who needs to understand the nature of first-classphilosophical thought."--Ethics, Wide range of issues ... richness in details ... an excellent book and deserves close study. I recommend it to anyone who, for professional or existential reasons, is interested in the topics it tackles., "In this exceptional new book, Jeff McMahan offers nuanced and illuminating accounts of personal identity, human nature, the badness of death, the wrongness of killing, the rights of animals, abortion, and euthanasia. This book is a major contribution to both moral theory and applied ethics,and makes a strong case for the relevance of the former to the latter. It is also beautifully written and a joy to read. This is a long, dense book, overflowing with examples, arguments, and counterarguments. [It] is a tour de force of contemporary naturalistic ethics. Defenders of the naturalisticproject will cite it as the best evidence yet that the project is on the right track, yielding insights into a wide range of pressing topical issues... No-one on either side can afford to ignore this book." --Tim Mulgan, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, "This is a deep, detailed, examination of the full range of moral problemshaving to do with killing those who are at the beginning of life (abortion) andthose who are at its end (euthanasia). McMahan brings out the sources of theproblems and the connections among them; his extensive discussions of the ideasof the moral theorists with whom he disagrees are beautifully clear and fair;and he draws some new conclusions--they are bound to capture attention andprovoke debate. The book is a major piece of work, required reading for anyonewith an interest in moral theory."--Judith Jarvis Thomson, MIT, "Beginning with an original view about the nature of personal identity,McMahan goes on to offer illuminating discussions of the badness of death, andthe wrongness of killing in various 'marginal' cases (e.g., animals, fetuses, orcases involving brain death). To be sure, the book does not make for easyreading. It is densely written and overflowing with arguments, painstakinglydissecting a wide range of alternative views. But whatever your own views aboutthese important issues, they will be thoroughly challenged here. The Ethics ofKilling is a remarkable book."--Shelly Kagan, Yale University, "The Ethics of Killing is applied ethics at its best. From now on, anyone who is serious about getting to the bottom of issues like abortion, infanticide, brain death, euthanasia and the killing of nonhuman animals will have to take account of the novel and ingenious theory presented in JeffMcMahan's lucidly-written, rigorously-argued book."--Peter Singer, Princeton University, "This is a deep, detailed, examination of the full range of moral problems having to do with killing those who are at the beginning of life (abortion) and those who are at its end (euthanasia). McMahan brings out the sources of the problems and the connections among them; his extensivediscussions of the ideas of the moral theorists with whom he disagrees are beautifully clear and fair; and he draws some new conclusions--they are bound to capture attention and provoke debate. The book is a major piece of work, required reading for anyone with an interest in moral theory."--JudithJarvis Thomson, MIT, "An enormously rich contribution to personal identity theory, ethicaltheory, and applied ethics. [Each of the five hefty chapters] could be a shortbook of scholarly significance...Chapter 2 presents the most probinginvestigation of the harm of death of which I am aware."--David DeGrazia,Philosophy and Public Affairs
![The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life [Oxford Ethics Series]](https://ir.ebaystatic.com/rs/c/prpweb-src-images-space-98af7172.gif)